There is sometimes a need to access an elevator shaft through an access located above the elevator shaft floor, for example for maintenance purposes or to rescue people stuck in an elevator. Such accesses are for example in the form of the opening in a wall normally closed by landing doors. Since falling down the elevator shaft could cause major injuries or death, people accessing the elevator shaft need to be secured to a harness that is itself secured to a sturdy structure. For aesthetic and safety reasons, such structures are not typically permanently provided outside of the elevator shaft at all floors in a building. Currently, such structures are temporary structure requiring that the landing doors be opened for installation before the harness can be secured to the structure. Therefore, there is a time window during which the landing doors are opened and during which the personnel adjacent the landing door is not protected from falling by the harness.
Against this background, there exists a need in the construction industry to provide an improved elevator shaft access safety device and a method of using the same. An object of the present invention is therefore to provide such an improved elevator shaft access safety device and a method of using the same.